Randall Recovering Well

PINE-STRAWBERRY

Donnie Wayne Randall, 25, got his bell rung, but good, by a horse during a roping session in Pine Saturday.

No one really saw what happened, but the end result was a severe knock to his head and lots of bruising on his left shoulder.

He was sent to Scottsdale Healthcare hospital, where he underwent reconstruction surgery, his mother Donna said. He has tiny little metal plates holding the skull together and is expected to recover.

Randall even got out of bed Tuesday and walked. Two CAT scans have shown no brain damage and a third is planned for this week. He has really appreciated how many of his friends have made the trip to the Valley to spend time with him and his family. His mother expressed lots of gratitude for the thoughts, prayers and good wishes from so many.

Please keep them coming as he has a long recovery road ahead of him.

Fire restrictions modified

Despite of the rain that has been drizzling overhead, our fire rating has only moved from extreme to high. That does allow residents in the Pine-Strawberry Fire District to operate power tools, provided you have a permit from the P-S Fire Department.

"We are back to issuing case-by-case permits on power tools," P-S Fire Chief Paul Coe said. "We would like to have at least an inch of rain and right now, we don't even have a half-inch," he said.

Two recent lightning fires have kept residents and crews hopping. The first was Thursday in Pine Creek Canyon, and the second was in Strawberry Hollow. Both were reported by residents, kept under a quarter-of-an-acre and were put out by the forest service.

Two more fires are burning in Arizona threatening more homes: one near Oracle, the other near Kingman.

To protect homes in these areas, the State Land Department made a special request for PSFD's newest truck, Coe said.

One officer from the Payson Fire Department and one reserve firefighter from Pine-Strawberry manned the truck, which has a compressed air foam capability, Coe said. Foam is often used to pre-treat a home in imminent fire danger and also to put out spot fires that may be burning around a large fire.

The crew and truck left last weekend for Oracle and may be reassigned to Kingman this week. Forest Service units from all over the country are still stationed in this area because of Forest closures here, Coe said.

Jones will be missed

Many loyal customers were shocked to find Nifty Fifties diner closed last week. It was closed due to the death of owner Dave Jones.

This town has lost a close friend. For the past seven years, Dave has been slinging burgers and conversation in his '50s-style diner, side by side with friends and family. He liked the people the best, his son Johnnie said. He loved the people up here. And so many of them will miss him.